The BB stores here in Toledo OH also sometimes have a tendency to not answer the phone. The Ft. Myers store is thus no exception to that tendency. I don't work for BB, I'm just a customer with 30+ years of retail and management experience, but I easily recognize that changes need to be made at the BB headquarters management level to resolve store problems that managers can't, or don't have enough time to, resolve. I'm certainly not anti-BB because I've spent thousands upon thousands of dollars at BB and have great respect for what they've achieved and the lines they choose to carry.
But it's feasible that BB upper management is too locked into "Stay with the old formula because it works...if it ain't broke don't fix it." and may need to adjust attitudes toward personnel and pay plans to better fit today's society - because the formula IS broke and it DOES need fixing. While BB is the survivor of the electronics giant competition, it means they do it better than those who lost out - it doesn't mean they do it as well as they could. I'd go so far as to predict that BB could increase sales 15% or more by demanding better customer service from their basic salespeople and financially rewarding it. BB needs to instill priorities in employees (phones get answered in 10 rings or less most of the time or there's big trouble when it's reported by a computer that monitors number of rings to all department phones). That requires incentives like negative management reviews and bonus deductions for store managers with specified volumes of complaints against stores, excessive phone rings in departments, or customer service complaints concerning departments in stores.
Floor employees shuffling around the store while not approaching customers, talking to each other in groups like they're talking business but they're talking personal matters, and intentionally avoiding public contact are the side effects of having a "no-commission by-the-hour" workforce. BB headquarters is proud that employees "theoretically" service the customer with a mindset of honest satisfaction and not the amount of commission they'll get. Unfortunately, that's a delusional management style that doesn't work well in the generations of the last 20 years.
Employees today, especially those who are paid minimum wage or slightly above, in general have one thing in mind - do the very least they can, escape responsibility, and make themselves invisible if possible, until they can get out of "work" (at the very precise second they're supposed to) and then recreate like the end of the world is here with the paltry money they have. They could party twice as long and have twice as much "stuff" if they were offered financial incentives at work to sell more and create better customer satisfaction (survey after the sale) but they aren't and don't. Very few have managerial intentions or a desire to use their retail experiences to better themselves. These hourly "Paycheck Zombies" give NO additional customer service, signs of personality, or knowledge to BB customers, nor a simple "Thank You" if working at Taco Bell, without financial incentive or threat of getting fired. Flipping burgers, slopping crunchy tacos, or handing a customer an ink cartridge are all the same to Paycheck Zombies... a way to get a minimal paycheck and ignore their surroundings while complaining about work conditions to each other until punching out. Pay BB employees a 1% commission on everything they sell on top of their hourly rate and you'll see sales of BB stores double and phones being answered by employees stacked on top of other employees - all of them telling you to ask for them by name when you come in. As a customer I'd rather know the employee got a small commission, maybe even feel good that he or she was rewarded for a job well done, rather than to be ignored or told a line of crap just to get rid of me.
Answering, or I guess I should say not answering, the phone is an extension of the Paycheck Zombie mindset. Many times I've watched BB employees standing right next to a phone that was ringing, talking to each other, and not answering it. In a commission-based store, the employees would practically fight over getting to the phone. A phone unanswered is another potential customer Paycheck Zombies don't have to deal with and BB may well not see walk into the store. Another customer to deal with is more stress and possibly an output of effort that Paycheck Zombies don't want for the amount of pay that will remain the same whether they're doing something or not. Paycheck Zombie would rather sit in the employee lounge all day and not talk to anybody, in person or on the phone, if they have no financial incentive to do anything more.
By the original date of your post, it seems that you were likely trying to call into your BB store during Christmas rush or during the "bring back everything I bought two weeks ago" phase after Christmas. From December 10th to 15th until February 1st, I won't call a BB and I won't visit a BB (unless their is no choice) to buy anything that might have to be returned. I buy my printing needs at Office Max for a while, for example. It's also the time of year when a good percentage of floor employees go into "I can't deal with this amount of people around me" mode while employees who are really trying to do their jobs right are so overburdened by the same-pay slackers that they can't even get to a phone to answer it.
I think it's sad that a chain as mature and successful as BB still has such basic grassroots problems. I could walk into any BB store, put on a blue shirt, and if I could figure out how to run their computer system quickly, outsell 7 out of 10 employees by 100% or more and have more knowledge of most of the store's merchandise than half the employees do. I have actually been in BB stores to pick up something several times and ended up guiding helpless customers in their purchase decisions, either because no employee approached them or the employee was absolutely clueless and went away to check on an answer to the question asked. This isn't bragging, just fact and observation.
A portion of BB employees also create their sales discussions out of sheer fiction, self-biases whether informed or not, and outright lies. I stood and listened to about 2 minutes of employee conversation about PCs a couple years ago. After he was done I decided to confront him, whether he got mad or not, and I said, "You just made that whole thing up as you went didn't you? Most of what you said is the exact opposite of what's true." He said, "Yeah, I did... I've only worked here a few days and I've been trying to pick up stuff from other employees. I might have messed up some."
In closing, let me add that if you look at the BB website about employment, you'll notice that the Ft. Myers store is looking for musical instrument sales people and supervisors. Thus I'd say the department is likely lacking employees to keep up with customers and phones. Once again I'm not making excuses for their actions or lack of actions, just letting you know that you're not alone in your frustrations.
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